PASSINGS: Jim Flick, Jack Hood Vaughn

Jim Flick, 82, a golf instructor for more than 50 years whose clients included Tom Lehman and Jack Nicklaus, died Monday at his home in Carlsbad, Calif., of pancreatic cancer, his family said.

Flick taught golf in 23 countries and directed programs such as Golf Digest Schools and ESPN Golf Schools. He was director of instruction at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Ariz., for 20 years and wrote five books, the most recent one titled, "Jack Nicklaus, Simply the Best."

Nicklaus sought out Flick in 1990 to help with his game after his longtime coach, Jack Grout, had died. They co-founded the Nicklaus-Flick Golf Schools, which operated from 1991 to 2003.

Born in Bedford, Ind., on Nov. 17, 1929, Flick began playing golf at age 10. He attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina on a basketball scholarship and roomed six months of his sophomore year with Arnold Palmer, who was a junior. Flick turned pro after he graduated in 1952 and tried tournament golf until realizing his career was in teaching.

Flick was PGA Teacher of the Year in 1988, and he was inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame and the Southern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame in 2002. Golf World magazine selected him as one of the top 10 teachers of the 20th century.

In a recent interview with Golfweek magazine, Flick said he was concerned about too many golfers trying to achieve a perfect swing.

"We've let the game be taken over by science," he said. "Golf is an art form. The golf swing is an athletic movement. Becoming mechanical and robotic is the worst thing you can do."

Jack Hood Vaughn, 92, whose long list of jobs included serving as director of the Peace Corps, U.S. ambassador to Panama and Colombia, as well as stints for the federal government across Latin America, died Oct. 29 at his home in Tucson.

Vaughn's wife, Margaret, said he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer only a few weeks before his death.

Vaughn is best known for serving as the Peace Corps' second director from 1966 to 1969, during which volunteer ranks rose to historic numbers. In the early 1960s he had held the post of Latin America director of the Peace Corps under its first leader, Sargent Shriver.

He also was ambassador to Panama in 1964 and '65, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs in 1965 and '66 and ambassador to Colombia in 1969 and '70. He left the foreign service during the Nixon administration but maintained business interests in Latin America.

Vaughn was born Aug. 18, 1920, in Columbus, Mont., and moved with his family to Michigan as a youngster. He attended the University of Michigan, earning a bachelor's degree in Romance languages in 1943 and a master's in economics in 1948.

A three-time Golden Gloves boxing champion, Vaughn served with the Marines in the Pacific during World War II. He also taught Spanish and coached boxing before going to work for the United States Information Agency in Bolivia in 1949.